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The Church opposed their heretical teachings (i.e. the world was created by an evil God), of course, but the rulers wanted to drive them out of their territory. The Albigensians, who were essentially social anarchists, refused oaths (the foundation of feudal society) which was a form of civil disobedience, so the civil rulers opposed them and tried to eradicate them to maintain order.

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.
-Antoine de Saint Exupery

The Cathars believed there was a 'good God' in charge of the spiritual domain and that a 'bad God' ruled over the physical one.

They therefore shunned the Catholic Church, which they felt was far too attached to material things. They gained huge followings because they led simple lives, in stark contrast to the fat priests who lived well whilst their subjects endured abject poverty.

The Albigensians to whom you refer, Alice, enjoyed the support of nearly all of those around them and many of the rulers of Languedoc at that time were fellow Cathars, so I'm not sure who these 'civil rulers' were who opposed them Do you mean the French by any chance?

Those who took part in the Albigensian Crusade under Louis VIII of France were mainly rabble, hired by the Pope to suppress a rival religion that was becoming too popular.

The Albigensians to whom you refer, Alice, enjoyed the support of nearly all of those around them and many of the rulers of Languedoc at that time were fellow Cathars, so I'm not sure who these 'civil rulers' were who opposed them Do you mean the French by any chance?

Territorial lords or viscounts and sometimes certain councils; I was thinking of Raymond Roger Trancavel. But I am far from an expert, of course.

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.
-Antoine de Saint Exupery

Well RRT fought on the side of the Cathars during the Albigensian Crusade.

I'm not aware of any leading figures in Languedoc who were hostile to the Cathars. RRT was not one himself, by the way, and he may have been defending his own territorial interests from the invading French as much as anything else but he supported them nonetheless.